Trickster's Rune
by nvzblgrrl
Summary: A group of runaways and homeless teens have been kidnapped by a certain fishbowl helmeted villain interested in accessing alternate realities. What will Rune do when he's thrust into a world where he's suddenly *gasp* plot-relevant? Warnings: Language (English, along with the fact that swearing is part of the language in question) and an OC (and that's terrible).
1. Chapter 1

**I'm sorry about neglecting my One Piece fics /it's been difficult to focus on the series lately, as my first love, Marvel Comics, has recently come back into my life with armloads of ideas that I can't just leave alone.**

**So, the universe for this fic is Marvel's newest anime series (amazing, right?) Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, which is... okay so far. It's animated by Toei, with a bit more care than they're giving One Piece these days, but there are still plenty of cringe worthy moments there. The story is okay (so far, I'm still in the initial crisis episodes where powers are handed out like candy), but, so far as animated superhero shows go, it's about middle of the line (I am still mourning Tony's beard (so tiny), but I'm way too stoked for Iron Fist to actually do things). There have been worse animated superhero series, I suppose. Most of the 60's, 70's, and 80's come to mind...**

**Anyway. The main character is an OC, I'm abusing Marvel's huge Multiverse for fun (though sadly not for profit), I'm going apeshit with the Random Page button on TVTropes (someday I hope to get mentioned there, hopefully for a good reason), and I'm thinking of doing some other fics with the same initial scenario, I don't know yet, I've only got the ideas for four others, and writing started for one.**

**Basically, you're gonna find out how big a nerd I am based on how many I upload.**

* * *

**Thoughts are in straight _italics._**

**Foreign languages (mostly Japanese, but I'll try to establish what they're speaking in story, considering the characters) will be in {parenthesis}.  
**

**Shout outs will not be marked.**

* * *

Rune was an individual of certain tastes. A certain amount of solitude, no small amount of personal style, and an expectation for a certain amount of self-respect to be maintained at all times. Information and, by extension, books, were sacred. Idiots were to be allowed to live, but not allowed to persist in their idiocy in his presence. He did not stay above ground at night, though he plied a small bit of trade as a fortune teller during daylight hours, from where he acquired the nickname by which he was known, and resided in old subway stations, with the Five Points Station being his favorite, as it lacked the easy access that attracted so many other of the- ugh- unwashed homeless.

Not to say that Rune was particular about where he laid his head. Just so long as there weren't little visitors in his hair afterwards and all his rune stones were still with him.

There were such things as public bathrooms, after all. A good sponge, a touch of magic, and a bit of talent moving one's clothing around could do wonders.

Unfortunately, there were all manners of unpleasant sorts waiting for someone to let their guard down.

Considering that this was New York, it really wasn't that surprising.

* * *

Rune didn't bother looking around his confines. It hadn't changed since the first day, only filled up with more street children. A Japanese waif, an albino, an Irish Traveler if the particular breed of cant was anything to go by, an old acquaintance by the name of Daniel Adler… Certainly a mixed pot, the soothsayer thought as he cast his rune stones again. _Doorways and change, a gift of two in one, a breaking of mirrors and long journeys_… Nothing had changed in the reading except the sense of impending immediacy. The others had come in edgy, off-balance, wary as stray dogs, but had since calmed, casting their suspicious glances outwards. A wiser move, considering that they were now focused on the one who had brought them there.

A man in a patently hideous outfit of puke green spandex and imperial purple cape, crowned by an translucent fishbowl, of all the stupidest additions, tinkered with a mishmash of technology roughly assuming the shape of a door. Rune hoped it blew up in his face with enough force to open the cage, though that was unlikely. Supervillains like Mysterio did not get to have reputations by getting blown up by their own schemes. They got the reputations by having their asses handed to them by smartasses in bright-colored spandex that left oh-so-little to the imagination.

What? So Spider-man had a nice butt, all New York knew that. Rune couldn't really say the same thing about this guy.

"Now, there's no need to panic…" Mysterio said loftily as he spun around on his heel, cape flaring in a painfully scripted way. "We will not be making C.H.U.D.s of you this evening… I simply need a few… test subjects and since no one cares about the likes of you…" He shrugged. "Well, I might as well make use of your wasted youth."

Rune chuckled darkly. Honestly, even the twitchy ones that had been coming down from their highs when they had been dragged in weren't panicking any longer, having settled for a zoned out stare into the ceiling. The fool was just feeding his own delusions, pandering to his own base desire for attention. "It is terribly clear now why you lost your standing in Hollywood, with monologues like that…" He said, smirking at the super criminal. Really, the man should have seen enough movies to know that he was pandering to the stereotype of the B-movie villain and, therefore, begging to be defeated in a humiliating fashion.

"I have no need for your teenage sass, so kindly silence yourself before I do it for you." Mysterio said, pushing a button on his gauntlet. A small table rose from the floor, carrying a cardboard box. He spilled the contents into the cage. "One per customer, please." He said as the kids looked over the… Watches? How… distinctly kitschy. Rune thought, raising an eyebrow at the villain.

The gesture was not missed. Mysterio folded his arms and rolled his upper body in the same way one might roll their eyes. "Don't give me that look. I didn't spend the last week rounding you up just to kill you with overcomplicated accessories. I do have some sense of… panache, you know."

The Japanese girl poked one tentatively, pulling back as it jumped onto her wrist. She squeaked as it locked around her limb, staunchly resisting her efforts at removing it.

"I would advise against doing that. You will only hurt yourself." The villain spun around again, pacing in front of his portal. "I have connected biometric scanners to whatever preexisting technology is within those watches, so that I may learn what I need from you." He activated the portal casually, the mechanical monstrosity roaring to life with a swirl of blinding light. "And let's see what world we'll touch on first…"

The other captives were shuttled through, with a snippy one-liner excusing each from their current realm of existence. Soon, it was only Rune in the cage, still looking thoroughly unimpressed with the proceedings.

"And now it's your turn, Colonel Sassacre." Mysterio said, gesturing grandly at the last bracelet left, a rather simple gold bracelet with a Nordic rune inscribed in the back of it. "You will be going to Earth-TRN-413, as the computer tells me. Any questions?"

As the long-haired teen pulled the brace on, he pulled an uncomforting smile on his face. "Yes, do you just make up the numbers at random, or is the multiverse, in all its infinite twists and turns, come pre-numbered for your convenience?"

The villain snorted. "As if I would divulge such information to you. You can say goodbye to Earth-616, by the way. You won't be returning anytime in this lifetime."

* * *

Rune looked around his surroundings absently. Well, this certainly wasn't New York… Open streets, few pedestrians… It felt faintly animesque, come to think of it…

"{Gotta hurry, gotta hurry…}" A kid said as he jogged past the long haired teen, gusting up his hair a bit and raising his eyebrows. And there was the finishing touch; a young person late to some important event, probably school.

Rune coughed into his hand, mentally switching over to Japanese. "{E-excuse me.}" He said. Dammit, still couldn't quite get rid of the accent. Book learning could only get you so far, he supposed. At least he looked normal enough, an old Japanese school uniform that some fetishist had pawned off for a reading, a tidy looking school cap…

"{Eh?}" The kid asked, blinking as he stopped and turned around. "{Is there a problem?}"

Rune smiled. "{Ah, no, I was just wondering if you could give me some directions? It's been a busy week and I've got a… plane to catch at a certain hour.}"

The kid's eyes lit up. "{A plane to the United States?}"

_Yeah, sure, let's go with that. _The long haired boy grinned. "{Exactly! Unfortunately, the person who gave me directions was helplessly vague, so I've managed to get lost in between my hotel and there…}"

The kid grinned. "{I'm on my way to the airport; I can take you there!}" He motioned for Rune to follow him as he started running again.

Well, that went better than expected. Rune smiled benignly as he ran just behind the kid._ Sucker._

* * *

**One extensive, character-establishing detour later…**

* * *

"{My apologies, the plane is no longer boarding.}" The lady behind the desk said brightly, ignoring the groans of the three teens in front of her.

"{Then can we get on the next-}"

Her plastic smile didn't twitch. "{I'm sorry, that flight is completely booked as well. You can hope for a cancellation, though…}"

"Thrice be damned the ways of commercial air travel." Rune muttered, glowering at the screen showing off all the flights.

"You've got that right." A woman said from behind us in perfect American English. The long haired teen turned with the kid, now introduced as Akira Akatsuki to look at the red-haired woman. She smiled and dipped her head politely at the youngest member of the party, switching over to Japanese. "{You must be Akatsuki Akira. My name is Potts-san. The plane is waiting.}"

"{Eh? What about Rune-kun?}" Akira asked as his brother, Hikaru, walked over with his luggage. The elder brother cast a sideways glance at the longhaired boy, who would have spat his drink if he had one at the time.

_Oh dear Serpent, he's gotten attached. _Rune thought as he started to open his mouth to make a regretful salutation… An indication that he himself had gotten attached, since he usually just cut and run the moment things went south…

"{I don't see why he cannot come along as your guest.}" Miss Potts said.

Rune quickly closed his mouth. What was with him and good luck today?

* * *

He looked around the airplane again. This was his first time traveling by plane, and, while not as horrible as anticipated, it was still… uncomfortable.

"Not really much of a flyer, are you?" Miss Potts said after about a half hour of Rune staring out over the clouds, while Akira went through the normal motions of messing with the chairs and looking at absolutely everything in the cabin.

Rune tore his gaze away from the window. "Not... really, Miss Potts." He said. Technically, anyway. Flight spells were better, but he would never dare go this high.

"It's perfectly safe." She said. "And please, call me Pepper, you sound like a government agent when you call me 'Miss Potts' all the time."

"Of course!" A slightly tinny voice said confidently from behind them. "I helped designed it, didn't I?"

"{Aya!}" Akira exclaimed as Tony Stark's face popped up on the wall of TV's.

"Hello, Samurai boy." Stark said with a grin. "Having fun?"

"Tony, stop screwing with them. I know you speak Japanese perfectly well." Pepper said with a flat look.

"{Pepper, stop letting the oxygen out of my tank.}" Stark said, rolling smoothly into Japanese. The polite watashi was weird for him, but so long as he didn't break out any 'ore-sama's, Rune wouldn't complain. "{Anyway, I believe some introductions are in order…}"

Rune rolled his eyes, switching to Japanese for the sake of the Akatsuki brothers. "{Tony Stark, genius, playboy, billionaire, philanthropist, superhero, CEO of Stark Enterprises. This is his jet and he also has a beard.}"

"See, Pepper? Like that, only less sarcastic."

She sighed, grabbing the remote to turn the TV's off before turning to Rune. "Don't encourage him." She warned.

Akira yelled as Iron Man rapped his knuckles on the window and waggled his fingers at them.

"I have a feeling that he doesn't even need that much." Rune said, staring at the armored hero as he soared away.

* * *

Rune pulled at the silver ID card that Pepper had given him. Akira and Hikaru were long gone, off to meet their father for the first time in years. Naturally, he was not invited into the inner workings of the Raft. "What is this?" He asked, making a face.

"It's a Platinum Ticket." She said. "It might be a roundabout way to have you here, but as you are not a superhero, staff member, or S.H.I.E.L.D. agent…" She raised an eyebrow at the last. Apparently that one was up in the air.

He grimaced. No way. "Nope. Never been good at taking orders." Rune said, rubbing at his chest as he did so.

"Just like Tony." Pepper said, shaking her head as she headed up to the main venue. Rune followed quickly, not wanting to be left alone in a strange place.

It wasn't long before he lost her in the sea of suits, looking about aimlessly before wandering over to the snack bar like all anyone else who got lost at a party. Rune looked up at the large green figure standing next to him with a half-eaten pineapple in one massive hand. _Huh._

"Sup." The seer said after a moment. A calm Hulk just chilling out, stuffing his face with fruit. An interesting situation.

"Sup." The green giant replied before vanishing the last bit of the fruit in hand. A pretty cool situation, actually, compared to the Hulk situations to which Rune was accustomed.

"Hi!" A young woman in a black and yellow outfit said brightly. The Wasp, if Rune's mental registry of superheroes was correct. She was dead, back home, thanks to the last Skrull invasion – how many were there that there was reflexive distinction between the previous ones and the last one?- but death never seemed to stick to super-types like it did street-level people. He dipped his head respectfully, though he didn't say anything else.

A moment of silence passed. "I like your hair!" Wasp said abruptly.

Rune grabbed an apple from a pile of fruits that the Hulk had not claimed, not making eye contact. "Thank you."

"Must be hard keeping it so nice at that length." She said, peering around Rune to fully behold the strawberry blonde mane.

It was, though a little correctly applied magic could go a long way. Rune himself was quite skilled with cosmetic spells, though many were used for purposes of disguise rather than vanity. "Yup." He said, taking a juicy bite of his lunch.

"Don't think I've ever seen a boy with hair that long before…" She added. "You've even got Thor beat for flowing tresses!"

Man, that was one juicy apple. "Mmhm." He said.

"You don't even care what I say anymore, don't you?" Wasp asked flatly as the Hulk watched Iron Man touch down next to the podium.

He closed his eyes and nodded. "You got it." Rune took another chunk of the apple.

* * *

When the sky darkened, Rune had immediately prepared to run. God of Thunder or not, storm clouds and villains seemed to go hand in hand, no matter who controlled the former. So when Loki showed up and produced his army of villains from seeming nothingness, he had been ready. For what, exactly, was up in the air.

But what he had done was clear; he had run right into danger, throwing his magic left and right as destruction rained down from above.

Rune backflipped over a villain's head, pushing off from his back to launch his boot heel into the next one's ugly face, his minor flight spell turning him into an acrobat. "The thing about close combat in numbers…" He said mockingly, ducking a punch that would have killed him instantly if it had hit. "Is that I don't have to play nice and you have watch where you're going." Rune lit up his hands with stinging light before digging his fingers into Abomination's eye sockets. Screaming, the monster clapped its hands to its head, though the offending mage was long gone by then, onto the next villain, spinning a disk of spinning light on his fingertips.

"Destructo…" Rune whispered fiercely, flinging the saucer-sized circle of golden light after an airborne Goblin. "Disc!"

The attack just missed the villain, shaving off one of the pointed ears on his mask before flying into the distance. No matter. The long haired magician whipped his hand backwards and, just as the Green Goblin was about to throw a pumpkin bomb his way, the disc returned sawing through the villain's bicep. The villain howled as he dropped his bomb, spinning his glider away quickly to harass other, less cutting, targets.

Rune dispelled the attack, absorbing as much of his magic back as possible. "I assume you're not one for Dragon Ball." He said, smirking at the retreating villain. The fallen bomb detonated, rocking the area and dispelling a thick cloud of smoke. Rune ran out of the mess, ducking under a thrown shield –_Thanks for the near beheading,_ _Cap_, he thought sarcastically – as he made his way to the building, collecting one Pepper Potts along the way.

"You sure that you aren't with S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Pepper said as they backed up to a wall, Rune's hands flashing as he shot stinging bolts into the fray at seeming random.

"If I am, I'd sure like to know where my paycheck is going." Rune said flippantly, even as he grabbed her and darted off to the side, dodging a strike from a wrecking ball that obliterated the wall that had been behind them. "Oh, come on! Crusher Creel? This is so far out of my weight class…" Rune said.

A green fist sent the Absorbing Man several hundred feet away as Rune pulled Pepper out of danger once again. The Hulk snarled.

"Thank you!" The teen magician called back to the Hulk, now slamming his fists down on the still blinded Abomination. A non-omnicidal Hulk was always nice…

"Excuse me, young mage." A smug, very recognizable voice said from behind them. Rune turned around quickly, eyes wide…

"Oh, come on." He groaned.

Loki smirked, long coat fluttering in the wind as he hovered thirty feet above the ground, staring down at the pair. "I believe you are in possession of a pawn that I need…" The god said as he pointed his staff - _Hello, sharp thing_, Rune thought - at Pepper.

Rune bled some magic into his eyes, activating a low-level precognition spell and giving the dull green a ghostly glow. Great for intimidation and even better for the kind of fights where getting hit was a one-hit KO. This one was very much the latter. "Is that so?"

"Can you at least put me down first?" Pepper asked from under Rune's arm.

Loki swept his bladed staff around in a move that would have made more stationary heads roll, scoring a thin line across the teen mage's cheek as he threw himself and Pepper backwards. He pushed her towards a door. "Get the civilians out of here!" Rune yelled.

The trickster god clicked his tongue. "That's really too bad. You could have done well as a minion… but the inability to follow orders is really incurable." He spun a bit of energy in his palm, making it dance for a little before throwing it to the side, destroying part of a building. "Do you really think that your magic will hold against my mastery of the arts, even while I am at half my full strength?"

Rune's eyes flashed as he flicked his fingers, producing blue flecks of light that he threw towards the god in widespread arcs. Loki, of course, dodged the attack, allowing his shields to catch the spell on its return. He chuckled, closing his eyes as he opened his arms wide. "Did you really expect to defeat the God of Mischief with such an obvious tri-" The next words were cut off by a punch to the face that sent Loki a few steps backwards.

Rune kept running forward, slowing as he stopped fueling his flight spell. "Did you really expect to someone like me to use such an obvious trick?" He asked, skidding around to watch the god carefully and, ignoring his bruised knuckles, lit up another spell in his hand. It would likely be the last of the evening, either because of his impending exhaustion or impending death.

Loki chuckled, rubbing his mouth. "Oh, I like you." His eyes fell to the golden bracelet on Rune's wrist. "And you carry my mark. How…" A wicked grin spread across the god's face as he twisted his hand around, an obvious gesture of magic that would call what belonged to the caster back to them, the same one that Rune had been using all evening to get the most use out of his Destructo Discs. "…Fortuitous."

_But which of his spells is still active- Aw, crap._ Rune thought, right before Loki's magic yanked him across the field towards him, right arm first. _Stupid magic rules about putting names on things._

The golden bracelet began glowing with a spectral light as soon as Loki touched it, strange formations of glowing light weaving themselves out of it, into the visage of a great serpent. The feeling of foreign magic crawled over Rune's skin like slithering snakes, even as Loki, or the part of Loki that had been sent to deal with him and Pepper by the god, was devoured by the strange artifact. It was over quickly, a flash of light masking the final fate of the Trickster God, though Rune was absolutely certain, and perhaps hoped a little, that it was excruciating. It was that thought that made the burning of raw foreign magic in Rune's veins worth it, even as that which was not his twisted and blended with his own…

* * *

Loki looked down on the gathered Avengers, chuckling as Thor bowed before him. _As it should be,_ he thought smugly- PAIN. The god ground his teeth, even as flashes of what his doppelgänger was experiencing flashed through his head. Blinding pain, like being ripped to pieces by a great ravening wolf… Loki grabbed the side of his head, hissing as he separated his mind from that of his doppelgänger, cutting off the connection completely. "That… hedge witch was more trouble than anticipated." He muttered before gathering himself, smirking. "No matter." His victory was at hand, the DISKs at his command… and the Avengers were kneeling before him. The child could wait; without magic, he wouldn't be leaving the island anytime soon. The god looked down at the green monstrosity that had humiliated him so in the past, pulling a DISK out of the air.

"Sit still." He said, grinning madly. "This will only hurt a lot."

* * *

Rune didn't know when he grasped the bracelet, only processing that 1) he had grasped it, and 2) he had pressed the rune like a button, which made no sense, but it still happened. With that fateful motion, guided more by instinct than reason, he lost himself in the rush of distinctly Loki-flavored magic, along with a sweep of dark fabric that structured itself into a black long coat that was also distinctly Loki, along with a parallel of the god's outfit, stitched to suit its new wearer. In the worn mage's mind, there was a rush of energy and clarity as Loki's strength became his own and he suddenly had options besides 'sit and wait to die' again.

So the strange new demi-god decided to act, rocketing into the air and towards the place of battle, black gloved hands ready to throw spells once more.

* * *

"We will be avenged, Loki. And you will never see it coming." Captain America said, glaring up at the Trickster God.

"Ah, but who will do that? I have captured all the pieces. There is no vanguard, no cavalry come to rescue you." Loki tossed the green DISK containing the Hulk up in the air, catching it casually as he grinned. "I have an army. You don't even have a Hulk anymore."

The All-American Superhero glared up at the trickster god. "There are still those who believe in justice, and are willing to walk the path of a hero, however hard a road it may be!"

There was a beat.

"Are you serious?" One of the villains asked. "Are you fucking serious? That's the best you have? That bullshit line?"

"Dammit, Pete, shut up." Another muttered.

Pete did not shut up. "C'mon, Flint. He's Captain America! He's supposed to be able to speechify! Not just spew tired old anime bullshit."

"Pete. Your first villain name was 'Paste-Pot' and your real name. You sleep with a dakimakura of Misoto Katsuragi every night. You don't have room to talk. So shut up."

There was another beat.

"I fucking hate you, Flint."

The sound of several dozen shipping containers falling on top of someone interrupted the prison house drama.

"What?" Loki asked, eyes wide. His query was cut off by a black boot to the face that sent him flying.

The second figure, similarly garbed to Loki in black, green, and gold, with an antlered, visored helmet rather than the open faced one that Loki wore, stood on thin air as the original Loki pulled himself out of the rubble of the building his was thrown through.

"What manner of doppelgänger are you, who would turn against your shadow, your true self?" The god hissed.

The strange newcomer stared back at him silently, challenging him without words or motion beyond the slightest inclination of his head and the fluttering of his coat in the wind.

"Tell me your name, foul specter!" Loki shrieked.

"You can call me…" Rune said, a grin obvious from his tone. "…The Cavalry."

Somewhere in the back of Loki's mind, specifically in the part that kept track of the universe's various ironies, there was the sound of screaming.

* * *

**Reviews, criticism, and comments are welcome, as always!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I love episode three. Not only is Spider-man freaking amazing, he's only useless once. And when you aren't the protagonist, that's really an achievement.**

* * *

**Thoughts are in_ italics._**

**Foreign languages (mostly Japanese) are in {parentheses}.**

**Shout outs will not be marked.**

* * *

"LOKI!"

Rune dodged as Captain America threw himself past him, plowing into the Trickster God hard enough to send him flying back. With a wild look in his eye, Loki pulled a fist full of what looked like_… Are those Digivices?..._ out and threw them.

"Enough of this!" The god yelled. "D-SECURE!"

_I do not like the sound of that,_ Rune thought, even before the weird light poured out of the devices. He twitched away from it, even as the one aimed at him cracked across the screen. The other heroes weren't so lucky, dissolving into bits of code as they were turned into Digimon. _Just thinking that sentence made a few of my brain cells wither away_, Rune thought dully.

"What?!" Loki screamed, even as the mage escaped the light, running up the wall towards a dangling Pepper Potts. The sound of rockets didn't distract Rune, even as he snatched up the red-haired woman, snapping the suspending rope with a twist of the wrist.

"Bastard!" The snake themed villain on the roof screamed as his hostage was rescued.

Iron Man descended with a vicious rocket powered tackle that sent the villain backwards about twenty feet. "I've had just about enough of you!" Tony snapped. He then obliterated him with a replusor blast that would have flipped a car without as much as a hiccup. It was a credit to whoever gave King Cobra superpowers that he was able to take the hit without dying, though he was still left unconscious.  
Rune set Pepper down on the roof gently, using a Destructo Disk the size of an Exact-O knife to saw through the ropes. "Remind me never to piss you off." He said, looking askance at the armored superhero.

Pepper frowned, folding her arms as she glared at her boss. "Tony." She said dangerously, tapping her shoes.

"Aw, crap." _Way to fail a spot check, Mr. Stark, _Rune thought flatly as the armored hero, despite not having any of his face visible, managed to look sheepish. No wonder he keeps almost dying, in Rune's home reality and this one.

The redheaded woman turned to him, reaching up to flick his visor. "And you! Why didn't you whip out this costume and those powers earlier? Thought you said that those guys were 'out of your weight class'?" She snapped.

_Remind me never to piss her off either._ Rune grabbed his face. "I didn't have them earlier, please stop hitting me." He whined.

"{Rune-kun?}" A small voice called out in Japanese.

_Aw, dammit. When did Akira get here? _"{Akira-kun, where's your dad?}" Rune asked, rubbing his head.

The kid shivered and pointed in some ill-defined direction. "{He's back at the-}"

A sudden missile strike interrupted them, throwing everyone down flat and tossing Rune off the roof all together, dangling from the edge by his fingertips. He hissed at the burning in his arm as he tried to swing the other up. There was only so much a bit of fresh magic could do, he guessed, and recovering from complete exhaustion in less than five minutes was not within that purview. He tried to pull on the magic for a flight spell. Nothing. _Dammit. _He thought poisonously. _So much for being the cavalry._

MODOK hovered above them, giggling maniacally as a man in a plague doctor mask and long black coat grinned down at them from atop the villain's head. Iron Man was collapsed at their feet, with no sign of getting up any time soon, and there were no real contenders on the field now.

_MODOK? I hate MODOK._ Rune mentally snarled from the edge of the roof, even as he clawed what residual magic was left in him into a useable whole. _And AIM. And HYDRA. Dammit, if it's an even slightly evil organization that's kind of vague about what exactly they do, I hate 'em._

"Ah, the biocode installer." The masked man said as he picked up the case, caressing it with his gloved hands. "Lovely."  
Iron Man jerked upwards at this announcement, even as Akira crawled towards the villain, reaching fruitlessly for the case.  
"Uh-uh-uh." MODOK tutted from up above, his flying chair revealing a matched set of laser weapons. "Any wrong moves, Iron Man, and my lasers will make sure those are the last ones you ever make!"

"Where the hell are my reinforcements?" Tony hissed, apparently in contact with backup or some mission control through his armor.

The masked man chuckled. "Are you referring to S.H.I.E.L.D., Mr. Stark? I'm afraid that they're a little preoccupied with my… going away present." He tilted his head, grinning. "These DISKs really are wonderful technology. But you, Iron Man, you and friend Dr. Akatsuki lacked the vision to really make use of them." The man tapped the blank DISC against his mask. "I, however, have no such deficiency. Neither does my boss."

"Your praise gladdens me, Brain." Loki said, rising to the roof, orbited by a dozens of different colored DISKs. "Yes, with such numbers at my disposal, Midgard will bow to its true king soon enough." He slid his eyes over the collapsed form of Iron Man. "How does it feel to be the last hero left, Stark? I imagine it's quite painful."

Akira reached out at the case. "{G-give it back! That-that's my dad's, not yours!}" He yelled.

Brain looked to Loki for a second, who nodded, and then threw the case to the ground. He switched to flawless, but accented Japanese to address the boy directly. "{Have it then. We have no further need for its ability, having acquired biocodes for ourselves… Well, you know what they say about loose ends.}" He signaled to MODOK and a purple laser seared a hole through the machine. The broken biocoder flipped open, sparks shooting out of its melted inner workings.

Akira made a stricken noise, staring at the mess that was formerly two years of his dad's life.

The oldest of the kids hissed under his breath, "We're dead. So dead."

"No!" The smallest said desperately, eyes wide behind his glasses. "Cap will save us! He's got to…"

"Captain America?" Loki asked, grinning as he grasped one of his floating DISKs. He flashed the blue DISK at the kid, showing the picture of Cap on it plainly. "I doubt he's in any state to be saving anyone, much less you." He released it back into orbit, reaching out for a purple DISK that had Thors visage engraved on it. "Even my dear brother… has fallen before me. Victory is such a sweet thing…"

"You shouldn't be breaking out the champagne just yet, Loki. I'm still here, after all." Tony said, his exhausted tone still smug as he looked up at the villain. "Besides, while Thor's still behind you, I wouldn't say that I'm alone."

On that cue, Rune thrust himself upwards, activating his second to last spell to change his appearance to that of the God of Thunder, the moment concealed in a flash of lightning as Loki whirled around. "What?" His eyes widened as he saw his brother descending on him with an enraged expression, not even noticing the absence of Mjolnir.

"I say thee… NAY!" Rune roared, his spell twisting the words into Thor's voice, swinging his fist around for his last attack. His last spell went towards his fist, a flash casting of Storm Call, which activated right as his knuckles bruised Loki's cheek.

The ensuing lightning strike threw the villain back some distance, even as Rune fell to his knees, his disguise disintegrating as he collapsed. _Always wanted to say that_… He thought as his visor plate splintered.

The residual shock from the lightning strike bled into all the nearby electronics, bringing the damaged biocoding machine whirring to life.

Loki snarled, wiping his mouth free of a bit of blood. "Damn hedge witch." He said. "Get them both into DISKs, Brain. We're done here." The man in the plague doctor mask nodded, pulling out two empty disks. "D-Secure." He said, activating the capture function of the tech.

Iron Man was quickly sealed away, screaming as he resisted his own invention, but, like the last time, the DISK aimed at Rune cracked, this one splintering apart completely in the villain's hand. "Boss! We have a problem…" Brain said in a slightly panicked tone, as if this was a completely unprepared for that result, turning to look at his boss, even as Rune tried to push himself upright.

"Then just kill him." The god said coldly, eyes glinting as he looked down at his heroic doppelgänger. "He's too much trouble to risk keeping alive." He pointed his staff down at Rune, twisting the blade to line up with his neck. The motion was cut off by a flare of bright light. "What?" Loki yelled, even as a web line snatched the red DISK containing the freshly captured Iron Man from his lackey.

Spider-man, after pulling his prize back to him, flipped the DISK between his fingers. "I don't know how many TV shows you get in Asgard, Loki…" He said. "But, honestly, have you never heard of the cavalry?"

Loki swung his staff around at the arachnid themed hero, chasing him around the area with a bolt of magical lightning. "You're like a cockroach! No matter how many times I step on you, no matter how many things I turn you into… You keep crawling back into my business!"

Spider-man twisted around a silvery lightning bolt. "Well, it's kind of in the contract. You're a super villain, I'm a super hero… I'd lose my membership card if I didn't meddle!" He said, twisting around to look at Akira as his watch –_When did he get that?_ Rune wondered absently. –started beeping. "Ah, a biocode! Great! {Akira! Use this!}" He called out, throwing Iron Man's DISK to the kid.

To Akira's credit, he did catch it without fumbling. "{Eh?}"

"{You've got to smash it! Throw it to the ground and call out 'D-Smash!'}" Spider-man said, knowing either a little too much about the project or anime in general for comfort.

"Fool! Do you think I'll allow you to defy me?" Loki screamed, spinning his staff around for another blast of mystic lightning to obliterate the web-slinger.

"Actually, no, which is why I brought this." Spider-man said as he pulled out one of the Green Goblin's Pumpkin Bombs from behind him. He clicked the button on top of it and threw it at the God of Mischief, the bomb exploding in his face. The hero looked at the party of teenagers. "Ah, and repeat after me, kids; stealing is wrong. {Akira, do it now!}"

The kid nodded, grasping the DISK in hand for a moment before throwing it to the ground, calling out the command. There was a flare of bright light, oscillating through the colors of the rainbow and a metallic voice calling out…

"It's payback time!"

* * *

The battle was quick and dirty, with neither hero allowing the villains to bring their own DISKs into play and Spider-man kicking Loki in the face, resulting in the God of Mischief making a rather… unique sound that Rune would have made into a ring tone if he had a recording… and a phone. Akira had thrown himself at the god after that, wrestling for control of the DISKs when there was an explosion of light that flung the little prisons in every conceivable direction. By the time everyone's vision returned, Loki and his lackeys were gone.

"The hell was just happened?" The oldest kid asked, staring at the crater where the biocoder had been sitting earlier.

"Dimensional oscillation." Iron Man said as he checked Pepper over. "The DISKs use a fourth dimension for…"

Rune interrupted, pushing himself off the ground. "Less science, more actual explaining, please." He said, rubbing at his broken faceplate, jerking back at it slid open and blinking at the sudden change in lighting.

Spider-man chuckled. "He means that when Akira's and Loki's DISK watches came into contact, the tech reacted and sent all the DISKs into a pocket dimension that spat them out to just about everywhere."

"{Is it all over?}" Akira asked.

"{I guess it'd be safe to say that-}" Spider-man's reassuring words were cut off by an explosion. From Akira's horrified expression, Rune guessed that was the lab where his dad was that just went up in smoke.

_Well, that was nice timing. _Rune thought dryly as S.H.I.E.L.D. copters flew overhead.

* * *

Rune sat on one of the counters in the destroyed lab, watching Akira look around aimlessly for his father while his brother stared after him uselessly. He had been messing with his bracelet again, managing to get a reaction out of it as soon as they had come into the lab area, changing back to his normal clothes. Which was lucky, considering the scary looking government people who just came in.

"Care to explain where the hell all my super villains have gone, Mr. Stark?" The obvious leader said, staring down at the armored hero with his one remaining eye. He was an intimidating presence, even after Rune had faced down so many big name villains not even an hour ago.

"Nick Fury." Tony said smugly, sliding up his faceplate. Rune raised his eyebrows. This guy was this reality's Nick Fury? Definitely not the same man who Rune had seen running through the streets of New York during the last Skrull invasion. More Samuel L. Jackson than David Hasselhoff, honestly. "As punctual and helpful as always." He gestured at Rune and Spider-man. "I didn't see you with the rest of the cavalry."

"That might have been because of the villains that somebody smuggled onto the Helicarrier in your DISKs." The woman said, glaring down at Stark. "How do you plan on taking responsibility?"

"Stand down, Hill." Fury muttered as his second in command bristled.

Stark smirked. "Considering that it was one of your members who stole my tech and participated in the attack, I think that it should be me asking that question."

Rune's eyebrow twitched. "{And adults call kids immature…}" He muttered.

Hikaru made a choking noise that might have been laughter or shock at that comment as Fury walked down the stairs to their level. He stuck out his hand for Akira to shake. "{Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.}" He said.

"Sh-Shield?" Akira asked in shaky English.

Fury shrugged. "{It's an organization dedicated to world security, though we aren't as glamorous as most superheroes…}"

"{Morality isn't much of an issue either.}" Tony added.

The secret agent glared warningly at the armored hero. "Watch it, Stark."

"What do you think I do? Hack into your systems just to play Galaga-?" He was cut off as he disintegrated into light, returning to the DISK on Akira's wrist. The kid stared at his wrist, poking the red DISK carefully, as if it would explode if handled incorrectly. For all Rune knew, they could and would.

"{Akira, try doing a D-Smash.}" Hikaru suggested, ignoring the possibility of imminent explosions.

He nodded. "{Iron Man!}" Akira yelled, going through the same dramatic motions that he had used earlier. "{D-Smash!}" He threw the DISK to the ground… where it bounced, clattering to a stop as Akira stood stock still.

There was a beat.

"{Was that supposed to be underwhelming? Because I'm feeling very underwhelmed}." Rune asked.

"{A-Shut up! I'm so embarrassed…}" He said, frowning down at the DISK and then squawking as Fury grabbed his arm.  
"{We're gonna have to do some tests on you… figure out the secrets of this 'biocode'.}" He cast a flinty eye over the group. "{You're all under S.H.I.E.L.D. custody until further notice.}"

Spider-man backflipped over to a broken window. "Ah, that sounds fun and all, having a big ol' sleepover with you guys, but I have to go… well, I'm sure there's something I have to do someplace." He said as he shot out a web line and swing out of view.

Rune did a quick calculation. Considering how much magic he had left… alright, if he tried to fly back to New York from here, he'd spend a third of the journey swimming. He sighed. _Dammit._

* * *

Rune sat at the table in their room, staring down at the rune stones he was casting. _Gifts of change and hope, internal powers externalizing, promises of travel, victory, and tribulation… Great._ Never a cheery reading when he cast for himself. Hikaru had been staring out the window for some time, while Akira fussed over a large wrapped gift, presumably from his father.

Rune sighed. "{You guys want me to cast for you?}" He asked, gesturing at his rune stones.

The two brothers turned to look at him. "{Eh?}"

"{It's fortune telling.}" Rune explained, picking the stones up and shaking them in his hands. "{I shake the stones, like dice, and I read them as they fall.}" The stones clattered against the hard table and Rune pointed at one that had fallen some distance away from the rest. "{This is Fehu, which means cattle or wealth. It's a good sign, but since it's fallen so far away from the other runes, I feel that it's not in the imminent future and is more of a way off end. }" He pointed at another one, this one at the bottom of the main mass of stones. "{This is Ansuz, meaning god or the mouth. It symbolizes wisdom, the clearing of the air, and the divulging of true feelings. This one feels more immediate, though it might prove gradual, as friendships are made and trust is forged between kindred spirits.}" Rune swept up the rest of the stones, picking up the sense of _journey_ and_ victory in the sun _once again before packing them away.

"{How fascinating…}" Hikaru said, though his musings were interrupted by the beeping of Akira's watch.

"{Huh?}" The boy said, glancing at the watch. "{How do I make it stop…?}" He clicked one of the buttons, and a little beam of light came out. "{Aya!}"

A little hologram Iron Man settled out of the beam, saluting Akira casually. "Yo, Samurai boy!" He chirped.

* * *

The three teens brooded over fast food in their room, even as Tony stared longingly at Rune's burger. Akira slurped at his drink. "{And you haven't found any trace of our dad?}" Hikaru asked.

"{Nope, there's not a trace of him in the lab. It's like he fell off the face of the Earth…}" Tony said, hoping down from Akira's shoulder. "{In all likelihood, Loki had some hand in it, since there wasn't any other way off the island…}" He paced around the tabletop, flickering slightly as he tested the range of the watch's holographic projector. "{Don't worry about it. If S.H.I.E.L.D. is good at two things, it's finding people who nobody else can find and keeping secrets. Hell, Fury's secrets have secrets!}"  
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about me behind my back, Stark." Fury said, leaning against the wall by the door.

The holographic man spun around, frowning at the director. "I hate it when you guys do that! Is there a course or something that you spy types take for that or something?"

"You don't have that level of clearance, Stark." Fury said, even as he motioned in a pair of agents in lab coats, shadowed by an older white man in a suit.

"Yeah, yeah, not like I haven't heard that one before…" Tony said, putting on an overdramatic pout as the mousy girl ran a scanner over Akira's body. The red haired man looked over the numbers that his computer was collecting, stealing glances at the boy as more data came in.

"Simmons, Fitz; what am we looking at here?" The suit asked.

"It's almost identical to the biocode data that we have, Coulson…" The girl, Simmons, said as she scanned Akira's head.

"…Except the code's got missing chunks big enough to fly the Bus through." Fitz added, scanning the wall of text on his computer. "You said it works well enough with the tech?"

"Worked well enough to scare off Loki and his goons earlier." Stark said, stretching out as the agents did their work. "Seems to have a time limit, along with a recharging period that we don't have the full parameters on yet…"

"You would be the one to know…" Rune muttered. "{Akira, do you feel up for a D-Smash?}"  
The kid grinned, grabbing his bicep confidently. "{I feel up for anything now-}"

"{**Please** do not let Stark out in my Helicarrier.}" Fury cut in, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "{We're still buffing out the scratches from the last time.}"

"That wasn't even my fault." Stark muttered.

"Anyway, the biocoder was nearly wrecked, so that explains why yours isn't working like the complete biocode." Fitz said, pointing at his screen. "The fact that the machine was able to perform with that kind of damage is more miracle than anything else."

"So it's an incomplete biocode." Coulson said as he leaned on the back of one of the chairs.

Simmons nodded. "That's a simple way to put it, but that's pretty much what it is."

"I hate to interrupt this little party…" A rather unimpressed voice said from the door. Rune glanced at the man. Another suit, though this one had a slimy edge that put the young mage on edge. The man held a crystal topped cane, carried more for image than actual use and he had a careless looking expression on his face.

"And you might be?" Fury asked.  
"Senator Robert Serrure. World Security Council." The suit said, never blinking as he stared down a man who was rumored to be immortal. Akira leaned over to Hikaru, asking what a 'senator' was. "I'm here to investigate."

"Investigate what?" Coulson asked warily.

"Budget concerns, especially with the latest humiliation." Serrure said casually, smirking at Fury as he produced a manila folder. "It seems like there is a defect in our security…" He slid some photos out, two of the man who Rune only knew as Brain, wearing normal lab gear and no mask, and then one of Loki standing within arm's reach of Fury. "That I will be investigating. Thoroughly."

Serrure looked back at Fury, a smirk threatening to upturn his serious expression. "Colonel Nicholas Fury, I hereby strip you of your authority within the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. and place you under arrest, pending the completion of this investigation." He gestured for the soldiers in the hall to collect the ex-director. "All S.H.I.E.L.D. activities from this point forward are suspended indefinitely." He dipped his head as he exited the room. "Agent Hill. You are acting director for the foreseeable future. Enjoy your new job… even if it is just keeping the dust off the furniture."

The group stared after the senator silently.

Finally Akira spoke up. "{What just happened?}"

"{I think we just witnessed a coup.}" Rune said, squinting his eyes at the door. "Something about that Serrure doesn't sit right with me…"

Coulson rubbed his chest absently. "Can't exactly disagree there…" He said. "You kids stay out of trouble and let us handle it."

* * *

**Five minutes later…**

* * *

Klaxon alarms rang throughout the Helicarrier, even as doors automatically closed, sending the whole vessel into lockdown. Akira, as per his standard, managed to miss all the measures completely, having run off with his mini-Iron Man do get up to mischief. And just as naturally, Rune teleported himself, along with Pepper and Hikaru, past the door. "{We need to find Akira!}" Hikaru yelled.

Rune looked out the window. "{I don't think 'finding' is really the issue now.}" He said dryly, pointing at a decidedly full-sized and solid Iron Man flying Akira down to the city below.

Pepper facepalmed. "Tony…"

"{They really are two of a kind…}" Hikaru groaned. "{How are we going to catch up with them now?}"

"Did I hear something about someone needing a ride?" A man in a tight black leather suit asked. Rune saw the quiver of arrows of his back and automatically knew – This guy was Hawkeye. _Sweet._

"Nice tights." Rune said.

* * *

**Chapter two! My goodness, this show is kinda, eh, okay. Why is Spider-man both wonderful and useless? How many plot points can be pulled out of thin air (well, one so far, not too big a deal...)? Why does Loki lose his shit the moment things start not going his way and why is that so hilarious to me? How does Toei still get asked to do projects with their recent history with constantly off-model characters?**


End file.
